KILCHBERG, Switzerland -- Haribo’s long-running legal battle to stop Lindt selling chocolate teddy bears has ended after a federal court ruled the Swiss chocolatier’s product was not a copy of its rival’s gummy bears, reported The Guardian.
The decision ended a dispute between the companies that started in 2012 when Germany-based Haribo accused Switzerland-based Lindt & Sprüngli of copying its Gold Bear trademark by launching a foil-wrapped teddy.
Haribo, which invented gummy bears in the 1920s, said shoppers would confuse the two products, even though Lindt’s bears are made of chocolate and gummy bears are a jelly sweets.
Lindt argued that its bears were a variation on its Easter rabbit chocolates. Both are wrapped in gold foil with a red ribbon. Haribo’s gummy bear mascot is a yellow cartoon bear with a red ribbon around its neck.
Haribo won the first round of the battle when a German regional court banned future sales of Lindt’s bears in December 2012, but an appeal court rejected that ruling and said the two products could not be confused with each other. The dispute was brought to a close by the federal court, which upheld the appeal court’s ruling.
“Lindt’s sale of bear-shaped chocolates wrapped in a golden foil with a red ribbon is neither a violation of Haribo’s Gold Bear trademark nor an illegal imitation of the fruit-gum products,” the federal court said.
Lindt said it welcomed the ruling and that both sides had agreed not to make substantive comment.
Haribo may have the option of appealing to the European court of justice, depending on the detail of the federal court’s ruling. Haribo said it would examine the ruling before deciding on its next steps.
According to the report, a spokesperson for Haribo said: “We regret the verdict of the federal supreme court and consider that its content is not correct. In our opinion Lindt is using our brand awareness and our investment in the Goldbären brand in order to strengthen the perception of its own product among consumers. The brand name Goldbären is the property of Haribo.”
Click here to view the full Guardian report.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.